Did Justin Timberlake drop N-bomb in Madonna tweet?

Justin Timberlake took some abuse on the Internet over a birthday tweet he sent Madonna that some are saying was racist.

I realize that's hard to believe. But it's true. Some people get outraged and express it on the Internet, which was not the reason Al Gore invented it in the first place.

On Saturday, Timberlake tweeted his pal, writing, "A happiest of Bdays to my mother chucking ninja, @Madonna!! Hope you have a great one, M!"

Apparently, some people now use "Ninja" in place of another word starting with N that refers to certain people of color in a derogatory fashion. Which is terrible, because I now can never use the word "Ninja," or I automatically become a racist.

Justin Timberlake performs on the Virgin Media Stage during Day 1 of the V Festival at Hylands Park on August 16, 2014 in Chelmsford, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

It sort of puts a new twist on how many people can now be offended by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

According to Us Weekly, people immediately took to Twitter, writing things like "I just ended my relationship w/Justin," and "Get Justin Timberlake the (expletive) out of here." Some said the timing was bad, considering the civil unrest over the past week in Ferguson, Mo., after a police officer shot an unarmed black man.

According to Us Weekly, in 2012, the Bill Simmons sports/pop culture blog Grantland pointed out that other stars have used "ninja" in the same context. For example, Katy Perry substituted it when covered Kanye West's "(N-bombs) in Paris" during a Radio 1 performance that year.

Just so I'm clear -- it's OK for white people to sing the word "ninja," but not write it?

Because celebrities still believe they can delete controversial tweets and their problems magically disappear, Timberlake deleted the tweet shortly after the trouble started. Us Weekly reports that, the next day, he retweeted a message from Matt Morris about the events in Ferguson: "The world is watching #Ferguson. [And we pray.]"